Final Report on Apostolic
Visitation to U.S. Centers of Priestly Formation

Congregation for Catholic Education

Diocesan
seminaries in the United States are generally healthy, concluded a
letter from the Congregation for Catholic Education after an Apostolic
Visitation to review centers of priestly formation. The letter, dated 15
December 2008, was directed to cardinals, bishops, major superiors, and
all those responsible for diocesan seminaries and religious houses of
priestly formation in the United States. While recognizing a breakdown
in priestly formation in past decades, the visits to
individual seminaries from September 2005 to July 2006 found that "since
the 1990's, a greater sense of stability now prevails" mainly due to the
appointment of "rectors who are wise and faithful to the Church."